Home Again
by Suki-Alanna
Summary: Daine, Numair and Alanna travel to Snowsdale under Jon's orders. The three plan to stop bandit and animal attacks, but they find themselves involved in something far more nefarious. REWRITE. Slight crack.
1. Chapter 1

**I read over this and it needed a **_**lot**_** of work. So here it is, and almost completely different. Except for the general plot. Hopefully more in character, too.**

**I don't own SotL or Immortals**

I glared at Numair, who was yawning. Daine was talking to a barn cat.

"Why are we here?" I snapped at them. "It's early."

"Too early," Daine agreed, looking up from the cat.

"Alanna, Daine, Numair!" Jon called. I glared at him. He had called us to him early, and the Kel incident would never be fully forgotten. "Alanna, please stop glaring at me," Jon sighed. I run him ragged when I'm in Corus.

I entered his office, Daine, Numair and the cat following placidly. Darned pacifists. The whole lot of them. I dignified my thoughts with the fact that it was early and I was not a morning person at all.

"There have been some bad bandit and animal attacks in a small mountain town. The king of Galla asked me to send someone to help, per our recent treaty."

Daine bit her lip. I recalled she was from Galla. I thought the place was called Snowvillage… Snowcity… Snowtown… Snowsdale! I wore a smug smile on my face when I finally remembered, and Numair shot me a strange look for it.

"What was the name of the village?" Numair asked carefully.

"I'm putting a bet on Alanna alienating the people in the first five minutes," the king said at the same time.

"Hey!" I protested. "Give me some credit! At _least_ six minutes, one would think."

"Please," King Jon said. "Remember how long it took you to annoy the court in your brief stay here."

"They caught me in the morning! I can be perfectly fine when I want to be!"

"I _said_," Numair interrupted, "what is the name of the village?"

"The name? Oh, Snowsdale."

"No way," the three of us chorused.

"Sorry your majesty," I added my best frosty glare, "but you'll have to find someone else."

"_Sir_ Alanna," he said. "Please sit back down. I hate to have to order you to do this."

"I won't. Our Daine isn't going anywhere near there."

Daine shot me a grateful look and I smiled down at her.

"Alanna, you are my vessel, are you not?" Darn it, he's playing the vessel card. "You are to go. Daine, Numair, I am not aware of your problem with going, but I expect to see you ready to leave in the morning."

"It was Daine's hometown," I tried. "They thought her mad. They hunted her as though she was their prey!" I did _not_ get a nice look from Daine for that one.

"All the more reason to go," King Jonathan said.

"Of all the times to be obscenely stubborn," I growled.

"Alanna. Enough." He said. "You will go, and you will like it."

"Just try me," I growled. I stomped off, Numair and Daine following me.

The next morning, despite my best efforts, I found myself riding Darkmoon off to Galla, with Numair on his horse and Daine on her pony.

"I dislike the king now," I felt the need to say. Numair chuckled wryly behind me.

"Don't we all," he said, "Don't we all."

"Not true," Daine said. "Queen Thayet."

"Oh, she disliked him for a time," I waved off her protests. "I know because I was there. Where to now, Daine?"

"I assume you can get to Galla, Alanna," Numair said.

"That is of no circumstance, Numy dear."


	2. Chapter 2

After several long, boring weeks on the road, which Numair mostly spent complaining, Daine spent worrying and practicing archery, and I spent cleaning weapons and fighting trees like all good knights do, we reached Galla, along the River Drell. Despite the fact it had been years since Daine was there, she was still able to lead us on the correct path to Snowsdale.

"Daine," I said when we were within seeing distance, "why don't we stay out here for one more day before we face them?"

She nodded eagerly, and I could tell she was of two minds about confronting the people there. Numair opened his mouth to protest, but a glare from me silenced him.

Ah, power.

Numair glared at me as Daine started a conversation with some animal. I swung onto Darkmoon and he raised an eyebrow. _'Don't even think about it' _he mouthed. It was too late for that. I was past thinking and on to acting.

Darkmoon and I trotted out of the forest and into Snowsdale. Numair had followed me, but Daine wasn't there.

"Hello," a man said, "I am Hakon Fakir. Can we help you, Sir Knight?"

"I am Sir Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau," I said, "and this is Numair Salmalin, the most powerful mage in Tortall. We're been sent, or exiled, as Numair seems to think, to deal with your animal attacks. We have one more member of our party, the Wildmage. Tomorrow we will arrest your bandits and the Wildmage will take care of the animals."

Numair looked over at me. "Before we go, who led the search for Daine Sarrasri?"

"Sara's bastard child?" Hakon Fakir asked. "I did."

Numair was clenching a dagger tightly. "We will return upon the morrow," I said. I glared at Numair. He could jeopardize our return with Daine.

"What was that about?" I asked Numair when we were far enough away from the village.

He shrugged. "I couldn't stand to see them treating her like that."

"You're fiercely protective of your magelet, I understand. Let's get back."

"You went into the village," Daine accused as soon as we entered the camp.

Numair fidgeted on Spots. I wasn't sure whether it was because he felt bad or because he couldn't ride a horse. I almost fidgeted myself, but I could hold my own.

"Daine, there's a very good reason. Tortall owes a lot to you, as do Numair and I. We aren't going to let any harm come to you, and you have to understand that. We'll get rid of the bandits, animals and Fakir, then return to Tortall."

Numair nodded. "Magelet, we'll go back tomorrow. If you want, they won't even know it's you."

She shook her head. "They'll know. I'll make them know."

I exchanged a glance with Numair. That sounded sinister, but I chose to ignore it, as did he. Daine had terrible memories of her childhood home. It would be best just to let her deal with them in her own manner as I did with memories of my father.

"Are you ready?" I asked. I attached my sword, Whisper, to my belt and swung onto Darkmoon again. I was wearing leather armor in preparation for the fight with the bandits—if we could find them, that was.

"Yes," Daine said. She was tight-lipped, and ignored Numair's pleading glance. I pretended I hadn't noticed she put her bedroll as far away from Numair's as possible. It wasn't my place to interfere.

Daine and Numair rode on either side of me, and I was rather ready to flinch from Daine's glare myself, despite the fact it wasn't aimed at me. Again, I was very glad I was not Numair Salmalin.

"We're here," Numair finally said.

_We're here._

**Yeah, so there's that… chapter two redone. **

**DON'T BLINK!**

**And if you get what that's from, I love you. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Lady Alanna, Lord Numair, it is lovely to see you again," Fakir, the man I had met the day before, said. I was hard pressed to keep myself from punching him in the face—I still know quite a few Shang moves.

"This is Lady Daine, our Wildmage," I said. "I expect her to be treated as well as you would any other noble."

He looked to be concentrating. I let him think—a brain as small as his obviously was would need time to process such things.

"Sara's bastard daughter?" One of the villagers asked.

"The one that went insane?" Another one asked.

Daine was hiding her face, but Numair looked furious. He was usually laid back and a overall nice guy who would help people in trouble and sleep with every woman he saw, at least until Daine showed up. Numair just didn't get furious, aside from when he spoke about Ozorne or Daine slowed her heartbeat.

Or maybe I just didn't know him all that well.

Really, all of the times he got furious had to do with Daine, so I blame it on her.

"Numair," I hissed. "Leave off."

Darkmoon nudged Daine as if to say he was sorry about what people were saying, and I unsheathed my sword, mostly for show.

"Where are these bandits?" I asked.

A woman walked forward. She was old, with grey hair and lines around her eyes and mouth. She was slightly hunched, and thinner than she should have been at that age.

She signaled something to Daine, who nodded and quietly said, "Thank you, Amelia."

She began to ride off, out of the village, but not the way we came. It really was a small village, with only one large street, and we left it fast, following a mountain path.

"Who was she?" I asked, glancing back the way we had come.

"Amelia?" Daine asked. "She's mute. No one knows why, but she's never been able to speak. We got along well—we knew what it was like."

"Mute?" Numair asked. "That's fascinating—I know of a time when…"

"_Numair_," Daine said, effectively shutting him up. I was still riding between them—Daine in front of me and Numair behind—but they seemed to at least have started to speak to each other again, which was better than nothing.

Daine finally pulled up her pony, Cloud, I think, in front of an old, partially burned, house.

Numair stared up at it, and Daine seemed slightly sad as she also watched it. Darkmoon and Spots moved to stand beside her, and Numair and I didn't oppose them. Daine took Numair's hand and held tightly. What was that about?

"Home sweet home," Daine said.


	4. Chapter 4

**If you read this before I rewrote it, go back and reread the first three chapters. Otherwise you'll have no idea what I'm talking about.**

Home sweet home? As in, Daine used to live here before she came to Galla?

I slid off Darkmoon and approached it slowly, hanging onto the hilt of my sword. There were quite a few bones scattered about, as if wild animals came here when they were finally ready to die. I wouldn't have been surprised—Daine had that kind of effect on animals, as well as a few people. She would probably be very comforting if you were dying… but I didn't want to think about that. I wasn't ready to go, and neither was anyone close to me, not even Darkmoon, the daft horse.

Numair and Daine had also dismounted while I inspected the house, and he was holding her close, whispering into her ear. She looked broken. I would be too; if I had to see a shell like this and know I had lived in it for most of my life.

As I watched, Daine pulled herself away from Numair and ran into the house. He didn't follow.

"Go after her," he finally said. "She won't want to see me."

"You may be surprised," I was tempted to say, but I left him there, with three horses and the love of his life's old home.

"It has so many memories," Daine whispered. She was tracing patterns aimlessly onto the dust that coated the floor.

"I know, Wildmage," I replied. A bit of her past and a bit of her future, right there together.

"This was the kitchen. Ma had a lot of spells on it, to make sure it didn't go up in flames from some mess that could easily have been made in there." A tear fell down to hit the ground. Her back was still near me, and I walked to put an arm around her.

"Daine, I'm going to tell you a story about the bravest girl I know. The bravest girl I could ever hope to know, really. She was only a poor girl who didn't know anything but the life of a bastard child when I first met her, but she was willing to save my life and the lives of many others.

"Her best friend was a pony named Sky. She met a wizard called Nummy, who told her she had a special brand of magic, which meant she could heal animals and speak to them. She and Nummy fell in love. One day, the not actually evil yet slightly corrupt king ordered them to the village the girl had grown up in.

"The villagers were as cruel as ever, and the girl became angry and sad after seeing the ruins of her home, so she called on her magic and took the animals away, causing the people to almost starve to death, until the girl brought back the animals because she was compassionate."

Daine watched me for a few seconds. "Thank you, Alanna," she whispered. "There were more tears on her face."

"It's no problem, youngling," I said. "You're better than them. You hold the power here, Daine. Just always bring the animals back."

"It's hard. It's so hard to want to let them live."

"It is hard. Daine Sarrasri, but I have confidence in you. In the end, you will do what you feel is best. No matter what, I will support you."

I left her there to consider what to do, my joints creaking. I wasn't as young as I had once been.

"Is she better?" Numair asked when I emerged from the shell of a house.

"No, Numair, she isn't. I don't think she'll be better until we're back in Tortall," I replied. "She needs to think now, though. She could kill them all easily, you know that."

He nodded gravely. "I do. She can't sort this out on her own, though. She's not—"

I cut him off. "She's not a child, Numair. She's a real person, with real feelings. You can't always make her decisions for her. Let her decide. She will make the right decision. Both of us know that, and we can always stop it before it gets too far out of hand."

A sparrow flew past us, and we both stopped to watch it. The sparrow, which some believed a sign of hope to come.

"We will get through with this, all of us," I promised as the sparrow darted through a window, towards Daine.

"No!" She screamed, and neither of us thought. We just ran to her.

**Cheers.**


End file.
